


Smoke snake

by Verse



Series: Teethk au [3]
Category: Digimon Adventure Zero Two | Digimon Adventure 02
Genre: Blood, Body Horror, Gen, Graphic Description of Injuries, Temporary Character Death, Transformation, Violence, howdy a lot of blood, impalement with extreme prejudice, kari being the deity-like being she deserves to be fuck you toei, the other 02 kids are here I guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-15
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-23 05:46:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14325900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Verse/pseuds/Verse
Summary: Perhaps, Davis should have feared less TK’s teeth, and more the world that made him grow them.(The disgusting crack of breaking bones, heat and fire and smoke, screams and red red red)Davis would learn, in time.





	1. int main()

Here is how Davis sees things:

Tai is his idol. Strong leader and fast player, he shines like his own sun. He is everything Davis aspires to be, everything Davis has ever admired.

 

Here is how Davis sees things:

Kari is the love of his life. Kind and bright and witty, a gentle light in dark waters. She makes his heart flutter and his frowns turn into smiles. Davis cannot envision a world without her in it, a future without her at his side.

 

Here is how Davis sees things:

TK is a threat. Dangerous, sharp, scorching. He even looks like a villain, with his silly hats and his large teeth. Davis hates him. He hates how he seems pleased everytime he manages to make Davis uncomfortable, he hates how close he is so so close to Davis’s idol and crush without even trying.

 

Here is how Davis sees things:

He’s chosen. He’s destined. He’s a hero, a savior. The small device on his belt is proof enough. He wears goggles on his head, an aviator jacket on his back, and his heart on his sleeve. Because he’s a hero. Veemon tells him so, Tai recognizes him so, the Digiworld beckons at him with whispers of _hero hero hero._

Because despite everything, Davis is but a ten years old, a kid with a simple world of black and white. Davis doesn’t know about the fire in Tai’s blood. He doesn’t know about the waves licking Kari’s toes in her dreams. He doesn’t know that heroics come in many shapes and forms, curse and blessing at once.

Perhaps, Davis should have feared less TK’s teeth, and more the world that made him grow them.

(The disgusting crack of breaking bones, heat and fire and smoke, screams and  _red red red_ )

Davis would learn, in time.


	2. Light seeping through thin veils

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning for unpleasant things ahead

Davis darted between the crates, ignoring the screams of his comrades behind him. He didn’t typically have plans for things, but on this one, he didn’t even have the slightest guideline aside from “not dying”. Because, in all fairness, he didn’t have much to plan with to begin with.

 _Our digimon are exhausted_  they’d told him, earlier.  _It’s too dangerous, we need to back down on this one._

As if!

Davis quickly ducked as Kimeramon’s beam went above his head. So, he’d had better odds. So what? Weren’t they heroes? Weren’t they  _chosen_?

The others could hide if they wanted. But Davis, Davis wasn’t like them. Davis was like Tai. He was the bearer of  _courage_.

So brave he was and brave he’d be! He didn’t know fear. He had nothing to fear. Everything would work out! Everything would-

Oh god, crap.

Okay, okay, everything would be okay, it was just a stumble, nothing to-

He saw the beam coming at the corner of his vision-  _too slow-_

Something heavy pushed him out of the way, a hand firm on his wrist to prevent him from falling flat on his face.

“What,” TK’s voice was breathless “just  _what_  do you think you’re doing, Davis?!”

Evidently, he didn’t expect any real answers, because his grip got stronger and TK got to running again, dragging Davis behind him. Kimeramon roared in rage and set off after them, most likely tired of missing them with long range-attacks.

“Wait-” Davis tried to protest, noticing where TK was guiding him. “We can’t leave. We have to fight!”

“And how?!”

“I don’t know, but we have to! Aren’t we heroes?! Aren’t we supposed to face danger head on and come out with a smile?!”

TK  _growled_  at that, teeth bared like a beast. The glare he sent Davis sent shivers down his spine, but he wouldn’t back down on this. He  _wouldn’t_. “Davis, you need to stop thinking about heroics and start thinking about  _saving your darn li- **LOOK OUT!**_ ”

The sudden injunction startled him. By reflex, Davis craned his neck to look behind him, trying to spot whatever he had to dodge-

He felt the hand around his wrist loosen and, faster than he could react, TK kicked him behind his knees, making him fall.

“Why, you-” His anger vanished, however, as Kimeramon’s talon slashed inches above his hair.

TK was fast. Faster than Davis was. He had reflexes worth his weight in gold, and experience precious to the whole group. However, he’d only had so much time.

(Davis would think, later, remember the day over and over, think about  _what ifs_  and  _maybes_  and i _f TK hadn’t tried to save him maybe things would have been different_

but he didn’t, and it hadn’t)

TK’s breath came to a sharp, choked halt.

One of the three claws that poked on the other side of his chest, surely, must have punctured a lung.

“TK!” Kari screamed at the top of her lungs.

Kimeramon jerked suddenly. The fragile little boy’s body flew across the room to meet the wall. There was the sickening  _crack_  of breaking bones.

The body slid to the floor. Kimeramon moved. Someone screamed. Kari’s voice rose again.

“ ** _NO!_** ”

Then Davis’s lungs flared up.

Not metaphorically.

There was no fire, but Davis was  _burning_. His hands flew at his chest, clawing frenetically at his shirt in a panicked attempts to cut the fabric, cut his skin, cut his flesh,  _anything_  that could let out the growing flames between his ribs. Everything was hot, too hot,  _way too hot_. He was melting. He was dying.  Oh, god, he was dying.

He opened his mouth to scream, but  _something_  was crawling up his throat, troubling his breathing. He coughed once, twice, choking. Until  _finally_  thick black smoke poured out between his jaws like a faulty engine.

Nothing else existed. Davis was aware of sounds, of flashes of colors occurring around him, but he could not process them. There was only him, only him, him and his shallow breaths and his pounding heart and the inferno in his bones.

Distantly, he heard the ocean roaring.

He coughed some more.

“ ** _DAVIS!”_**

The voice cut through the haze of pain like a whiplash.

"Demi-” he coughed again, pain growing between his eyes. “Demiveemon?”

He tried to focus on his partner, anchoring himself in the present. The blue paw felt deliciously cold against his scorching arm, the familiar voice pulling him out of his daze.

“Davis, we need to go!”

Something liquid started running over his face. Bringing his palm to wipe it informed him that the source was the newfound horn at the base of his nose. Pulling his hand back informed him that it was blood.

“Davis!!”

There was a crash.

Davis scrambled back on his feet, frantically looking around to take in his surrounding. Where where where where?

There!

Curled between two crates, a figure with glasses- Yolei, alive and kicking, safe and…

Oh, good lord almighty, what was wrong with her legs?

(He breathed out some more smoke. What was wrong with  _his_  lungs? He was running out of time, he had to move on.)

On the other side, near the wall- a small figure he could only identify as Cody, flanked by three digimons, all gathered around-

Oh.

That was a lot of red.

TK didn’t seem to move, no matter how many hands poked and grabbed and pulled.

(No time, no time, where were the last one??)

Finally, Davis turned around.

For all the heat in his body, Davis still managed to pale.

There, standing, fists balled and back straight, was Kari. Kari, one hundred twenty centimeters and forty-five kilos.

Kari, who was  _flickering_.

Like the screen on an old TV- in and out, clear and then grainy, colors to greyscale, back and forth. The air around her was filled with tremors like the space above asphalt on a hot day. Winds were picking up, blowing away the sand that had formed at her feet.

And between those flashes, in the space between two blinks- for an instant, a second, half a breath, on the step between perception and reality-

Davis  _saw_.

It had no shapes to contain it, and no words to describe it. Davis could only catch sight of it through a veil of smoke, for the brightness of it forced him to look away. But it was well enough to make out that it was huge, and powerful, and  _hungry_.

Far away, he heard the ocean get louder.

Among the crates, Kimeramon struggled to get back up, as if it was held down by something that was not quite on this plane. Kari the human, his friend, his crush, roared with her high pitched child’s voice, and the thing that was Kari and perhaps has always been  _pulsed_.

“Davis!” Demiveemon called again, pulling at his sleeve.

This time, Davis listened.

He bolted to join Cody, noticing that Yolei had gotten to him despite her twisted legs. Power in numbers, they could surely find a way out together or… something.

This quickly turned out to be a bad idea.

Seeing TK up close was much, much different that observing him from afar. His body was twisted in an awkward angle that could not possibly be reproduced by a person possessing a spine. His torn clothes were drenched in blood. His eyes, glassy, were half open.

He wasn’t breathing.

Cody’s hands were shaking. It took Davis a moment to realize that his own were, too.

“Davis?”  a small white digimon rose his voice-  _Tokomon_ , Davis recognized, _Patamon’s previous evolution, because Patamon could not evolve without TK, and TK was-_  "What do we do?“

What  _should_  they do?

They were all looking at him expectantly- broken and beaten as talons tore Yolei’s shoes and more yellow plates grew over Cody’s skin. What  _could_  they do?

Once upon a time, Davis thought being the leader was a blessing. But then again, he’d thought the same about being chosen.

"I’m…” he started, unsure.

Then TK’s body  _moved_.

He tensed, startled. How…?

No, that wasn’t a conscious movement- there was no doubts that TK was still very much dead. Yet the body moved, twitched in a more natural angle, as if his spine was…

Gatomon must have understood first, because she shred TK’s shirt with one swift paw to get a better look at his back.

TK’s spine was  _pushing itself into place_.

They all watched wordlessly as- a miracle, nothing short to a  _miracle_  occurred before their eyes. When the body was back in an actually feasible position, his skin started bubbling out- and the vertebrae pierced the skin like spikes.

There were a few seconds of silence.  

Then TK’s eyes flipped open and he  _breathed in._

“KARI!” It was Gatomon who screamed. “KARI, HE’S ALIVE! HE’S ALIVE!”

Davis wasn’t sure if she ran really fast, or if space itself had shrunk between her and TK- but one moment she was over there, and the next Kari crashed next to him to kneel beside her friend, a trail of sand in her wake.

Alive as he was, TK still didn’t seem conscious. It didn’t stop Kari from holding onto him tight, whispering sweet nothings with tears in her eyes.

Davis extended a hand to pat Kari’s shoulder. In comfort, maybe, a reassurance everything would be okay.

Kari bared her flat teeth at him and  _hissed_.

She didn’t react when he flinched.

Davis was really the dumbest of all, wasn’t he? All this time, all this time he’d thought-

He’d thought Kari was human, and TK wasn’t. Because TK was way too open and way too proud of his teeth, and weren’t books judged by their covers? He’d thought Kari like himself - _like who he used to be_  the fire in his heart reminded him- he’d thought that because she had no claws and no horns the Digiworld hadn’t taken the pound of flesh she owned it.

He’d thought them in love, maybe- crushing on each other, for sure. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid! Why had he needed to see Kari clutching the wounded body to see it? Their love for each other ran much deeper than just romance. They physically couldn’t live without each other. They were each other’s complement, anchor, partner-  _soulmate_. They shared a bond only kids with the same broken bones could. They were good people, for sure, they wouldn’t be here if they weren’t; but if a choice had to be made between them and the world, Davis had no doubts they would they would strangle every humans with their bare hands to keep each other’s safe.

“Kari.” Gatomon said, softly. “Kari, we need to go. We need to get him help.”

Kari nodded, faintly, as if she were in a land far, far away. Obviously reluctant, she removed an arm from TK’s back and wrapped it around Gatomon and Tokomon instead.

Gatomon shot Davis an apologetic look. “See you in the real world, okay?”

Without so much as a word for them, Kari flickered.

And just like that, they were gone.

The ocean stopped roaring.

The smoke cleared, and Davis breathed in much easier.

(They found their way back by foot. The computer room was a mess, keyboard and floor smudged in red. A single paper, on a desk;  _called Tai, getting the old crew to help, see you tomorrow._  None of them would admit it, but they were all relieved they wouldn’t have to face their monster of a friend again tonight.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this took me three days you can tell exactly where i gave up


	3. aftermath

Tk doesn’t come to class today.

Neither does Kari, for that matter. Davis isn’t quite sure which empty seat makes him feel worse.

He should call them. He should go check on them. He should go ask Izzy, or Yolei, or anyone if they’re okay. That’s what a good friend would do.

But…

_a light so bright it hurts the eye, pulsing in anger and hunger and fury_

_sticky red and glassy eyes and more red, and a small fragile body hanging on three sharp claws_

He can’t.

In his chest, he feels the snake of heat press against his ribs, begging to be free.

He’s never been happier to get out of school.

“Tk is okay.” Tai tells him, having caught up with Davis on the way home. “He’s really tired, and it’ll leave some… scars, but he’s alive. Knowing him, I don’t think he’ll mind the marks too much, honestly.” he tries to joke. “Kari’s doing good too. She doesn’t want to leave his side, but she’s not hurt or anything.”

Davis hates it. He hates that he’s had to be chased down to be told this. He hates that he didn’t gather the guts to go find out himself. Courage? Friendship? What a  _joke._ He’s the worst of the worst.

“How are  _you_ holding up?” Tai asks, and Davis stops dead in his tracks.

Davis doesn’t want to lie. Davis  _doesn’t_  lie. Davis is simple and straightforward, because frankly everything would be easier if everyone was.

But that’s the core of the problem, isn’t it? The world  _isn’t_  simple and straightforward. The guy he hated looks like a monster and sacrificed his life for him, the girl he loved turned out to be a storm who lit a fire in his belly.

He startles when a hand lands on his shoulder. 

“It’s okay to not be okay. You know that, right?” his palm is impossibly warm through Davis’s shirt- warm like the Sun in summer, like a blanket over his skin, like a house becoming home. There’s something a lot like understanding in his eyes, and the pressure in Davis’s chest is too high and the smoke is choking.

"There’s… there’s something  _in_  me, Tai.” It’s hard. It’s hard, to find the words to define it and the strength to speak them. But once he starts, he finds that he cannot stop, hot coal tumbling off his tongue. “Back then, when… when Tk… when  _it_  happened.  _Something_  got in me. There was smoke and fire. It was trying to- to choke me, to burn me up, to tear me apart. And- and it didn’t go away. It’s  _still here_ , Tai. I can feel it. The bundle of heat in my chest. It’s here and it’s  _growing_.”

He doesn’t notice he’s shaking until he feels Tai’s fingers on his wrist.

“Davis,” he pauses, seemingly unsure. He and Davis have this in common that they’ve always been more creatures of  _showing_ rather than  _talking._  Slowly, he lifts Davis’s hand, and presses it against his own chest. “Nothing got ‘in you’, Davis. It’s all you. It’s always been you. Just a different side of you.”

Davis blinks. Gears turn, piercing together an understanding, one he isn’t sure he likes. “So… What? I’m turning into a monster? How is that any better?”

“It’s just another kind of puberty. A digipuberty.” Tai grins. “It’s only as bad as you allow it to be.”

Davis closes his eyes. He thinks of Tk and his teeth. Izzy and his eyes. Sora and her jaw.

“Besides,” Tai muses, “there are worse things to get than fire.”

He thinks of Tai on the soccer field, coughing on the sides between times out, Tai in the digital world wiping away from his mouth something bright and oily too fast for a distracted Davis to really register.

“…What do you mean?”

“Well, in the end, fire will never fails you.” Tai taps his chin mindlessly as he speaks. “Bodies break. Resolves shatter. But fire? Fire burns. It burns until it chokes. When your bones are broken and doubt messes with your head, you can always count on fire to keep you upright and kicking. It’s just a matter of picking how much of you want to let it consume.”

That… makes sense, in a way. “That is. A rather poetic way to put it.”

“Blame Matt. He tried to get me to help him write songs, apparently soccer isn’t a proper source of inspiration.”

Davis laughs at that. An honest, bottom of his heart laugh like he hasn’t laughed in days.

Breathing feels easier.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow, he’ll go to the Takaishi household.

**Author's Note:**

> The tumblr's versegm  
> leave a review in passing!!


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